Civil wedding ceremonies still really get to me. I know the nerves, the excitement, the fear, the determination that saturates the hallways and seeps out those big double doors. What are we doing? Wait, this isn't how I imagined it when i was little (or on my Pinterest board for that matter). People get married for all sorts of reasons. You see, marriage requires love, but love doesn't require marriage. Some of us get married for religious reasons, some for economic or tax reasons, and others, like me, for the simple reason to be able to live with the person you love. For this I don't regret my civil wedding, and hell if the Brazilian Cartorio where i got hitched had been half as gorgeous as the Rochester City Hall where this fabulous international couple tied the knot I'd have been over the moon! Let me present C and P, star crossed lovers from opposite corners of the globe united in these here United States. How can you say that isn't romantic? Following their civil wedding ceremony at the City Hall, we changed wardrobe and set out to, essentially, capture an engagement shoot in order to use the photos for their save the date cards for their future wedding party in northern France. Are we invited to that wedding too????? What I love about this shoot is that you can see the relief, joy, and utter love in the "engagement photos" as they followed a very emotional civil service. Not to mention how they elected to showcase downtown Rochester and the George Eastman House Gardens in their photos as a tribute to the city that brought them together. I hope that someday we will all be able to live with our loved ones despite boarders and visas and heartbreak...until then, bask in the love of this lucky couple ;)

It's baby season. What can I say. I can't get enough babies, baby showers and maternity shoots! It fits so well with this balmy end of summer weather. The days are surprisingly already shortening, and the crickets seem to be coming out earlier. There's a cooler breeze. Seasons and babies, what can be better? This is my first autumn since 2009, im ready for apples, orchards, pumpkins, spices and nippy breezes and rainy days. What makes an autumn day even more memorable? How about a cozy photo session with babies snuggled into cozy blankets. Dreaming ahead! But first, late summer maternity session. Ah, anticipation. Today's models, M&H, are true Rochestarians at heart (though they are both Paulistas!) but their new baby boy will soon be a true Rochestarian. What better scene to celebrate than with a maternity shoot in downtown Rochester? People can say what they want about this third city, but the more i get to know Rochester, the more i'm falling in love with it.

Bread. It's not really bread. It's a cake. A soft, squishy, moist cake that surprisingly doesn't turn to pieces the second you look at it, as most gluten free cakes do. There is no rhubarb in Brazil. Well, none that I ever saw. So H was impressed. In order to show off further, I started buying up every stalk i saw. It's apparently a springtime "fruit" so momentarily primetime is a bit off. Late into this balmy summer it's getting harder and harder to find more than just a small basket of stalks at my grocery markets (which i of course i empty. sorry other wegman's shoppers). But.... after you've had your fill of crisps, what's left? Bread (cake). Streusel bread (cake). Did you know that Rhubarb is actually a vegetable? It is. But appently a New York court (the ultimate authority) decided in 1947 that it should actually be a fruit. And so it became. Because it's not like there was anything else important going on during 1947 to put off the fruit/vegetable status of the rhubarb from being debated in a court room. In anycase, it's obviously a very important fruit. Vegetable. And it makes an incredible bread (cake).

Method: 1) beat butter, coconut oil and sugar together. Add eggs and pineapple juice.2) sift flours and baking powder into the mixture. 3) Fold in rhubarb4) butter or spray 2 large loaf pans. Fill pans each with 1/4 of the mixture. 5) mix streusel ingredients together and sprinkle over batter in pans. 6) spread the rest of batter over the streusel topping. 7) Bake at 375 (normal) or 350 (convection) for 45 minutes. Test doneness with a toothpick. If toothpick is not clean, keep baking in 5 minute intervals. Let cool before slicing.

Pregnancy is always a little mysterious, isn't it. It's a time when the body is put to the ultimate test; strained and pained. Yet it's also a time when the body looks amazingly beautiful. How can that be!? This is the reason I love maternity shoots. So calming, so peaceful.... then a few months later the baby shoot arrives and the peace and calm are but a distant memory! T & G are about to have twins, and there was no better way to capture the calm before the storm than with a quiet evening session at Rochester's Highland Park. Highland is a beautifully manicured garden (an Olmsted Park, actually) full of secret pockets of flower lined meadows -- a perfect location for intimate sessions. Congratulations T & G!

Les macs hit their popularity peak around 2010-2012. Before living in Paris i had actually never seen a macaron before., never even heard of them. My first glimpse of the macaron was through the window of ladurée....I never went in though. Student's budget. But I could tell they were something special. During my senior year of college my muse food bloggers (Aran of Canelle et Vanille and Helene of Tartelette) were the pioneers of actaully making them at home. Before they started posting them almost weekly, I'm not sure I even knew what name to call them...Because I tried to emulate these bloggers to a T, I decided to overcome my fear and make them myself. I remember the day. I was on assignment from the student newspaper to photograph an ROTC shooting range ceremony in Idaho. It was a long drive. The entire time all I could think about was getting back to make my macarons. Earlier that week I had gone to my local Spokane Safeway to make my ingredient purchase.....almonds. Wow almonds are expensive....I ended up buying the mixed nuts that for whatever reason were half the price. Powdered sugar and almonds. Was there anything else? When I got back to my shared college home i set my stage. How on earth did i not have a baking sheet. Well there was a pizza tray....still with the left over pizza bits from the neighbors next door. My food processor? My roommates magic bullet. My pastry bag? A ziploc. That's how I made my first batch of macarons. All the fear accumulated from horror stories about exact temperatures and perfect hand strokes---whaaaaat. If a college kid can make macarons with a magic bullet and a pizza tray in a thirty year old oven then I'm positive that you can too.

Shortly after the macaron took off! Boutiques sprung up around the country, even here in Rochester! You can find processed macs at TJ Maax, frozen macs at Trader Joes and many stores in between. The majority of Americans these days are familiar with macs today. Though their novelty has since worn down a little, they still represent ..... something special. One of the most visually pleasing cookies, if for only that --- but for me, personally, they represent a little more. I love these cookies. Whether they are last week or not. Nostalgia.

Well. Six years later I still happen to like these little biscuits. Old news? Oh well. They'll always be my thing, my reminder of the beginning. But why am I even bringing them up? I made around two hundred of them the other day as part of a cookie bar at a wedding and i realized perhaps it was time to post a new recipe. An easy to follow recipe without the urban legends that seem to follow this cookie like a ghost. here it is.

*I recommend almond flour rather than grinding your own. Your egg whites can be any temperature -- day old, hour old. fresh from the fridge. I personally find no difference between the results.

Method:1) Start beating your egg whites in an electric mixer. Slowly add the granulated sugar. Whip until stiff peaks form (about 5 minutes slowly increasing the speed) and then add your coloring (if using). You know you're finished beating when you can turn the bowl of whipped whites upside down and it doesnt fall out.2) Line baking sheets with parchment papers. 3) Sift (don't skip this step) the almond flour and the powdered sugar together. This removes clumps that cause lumpy macarons. 4) Remove the bowl from the mixer and dump in the almond/sugar mixture. yes all at once. Using a rubber spatula, start "folding" the batter in on itself. You are going to fold it over and over around 50 times. There is no magit number of strokes. The number requires on how stiff our eggwhites are. You need to keep folding until the mixture becomes viscous enough to fall back in on itself. Some people refer to this state as "lava"...... how many of you have ever seen lava in person? A better analogy is thickish caramel. You do NOT want it to seem fluffy. If it resemble mousse or soufle in any way, keep beating it. 5) Spoon the batter into a pastry bag, you do not need to use a tip, the opening on most pastry bags is sufficient enough (if your bag requires you to cut off the end, cut it so that the opening is abut the width of a finger.6) Pipe small rounds onto the parchment paper. Pipe the rounds to be slightly smaller than a quarter. 7) Let the batter dry. This step is crucial. Your macaron should be gummy before you bake it. Depending on the temperature and humidity, it might take 15 minutes or it might take an hour. Check by lightly pressing your finger into the side of one of one of the shells, if it is sticky it needs to dry more. If it is gummy and your finger causes an indentation, it's ready to bake. 8) Bake macarons for about 10 minutes at 325 degrees F. You need to keep an eye on them while they are in the oven. All ovens are different, if yours is too hot it might cause your shells to brown a little on the outside. It's better to turn the temperature down a little than have to pull them out early. If you undercook your macarons they WILL stick to the parchement. Don't take them out before 10 minutes even if they start to brown. 9) Remove shells from the oven and let them cool completley on the parchment. Once cool, remove and fill with buttercream, chocolate cream, jelly or whatever other filling comes to mind.

Ramps. They are this year's it vegetable. A few years ago kale was the food blogger/instagrammer's golden child, remember kale cihps? Sadly it has since dropped status and has become the butt of many unfavorable jokes and memes. Food trends. We love them. They are an integral part of the American cultural identity. Why? To me, what defines American cuisine is it's versatility and it's ability to constantly change; it's the cuisine that is always searching for the next new thing. What's new. What's next. Our food has always been this way. I can't tell you how may people in Brazil asked me if Americans eat hamburgers and hot dogs every day.....my response was usually somewhat acidic, clicking my tongue saying no, we eat Indian, Thai, Chinese, Mexican -- a whole lotta Mexican -- Southern, French, Japanese and German food every day. But you eat rice and beans every day. Granted, American cuisine does have the regretable shadow of being swallowed by big Fast Food and processed food corporations...but even so If you go into any home in America and ask a family about their favorite foods they will most likely still reply with a food that reminds them of home and family, something their mom or grandma once made. I guarantee you that it's not a bag of doritos.

As for food trends, the current wave seems to be a bit greener than the past few years. Less than ten year ago haute cupcakes where a huge game player. Hundreds of boutique cupcake shops sprung up around the country. The cupcake trend was soon overtaken by the French macaron fad (i actually remember this being around 2009 or so) and was then followed by cake pops, cronuts and whatever else is lurking currently in the foodie blog world. I love food trends. Food is one of the few things we all do. Well, unless you are a new subscriber of soylent. No, no soylent cannot be a food trend!

What to do with my trendy ramps....there are many options out there. Pickled, fried, sauteed -- or how about pesto? Pesto it is. My trendy ramp pesto contains diced ramps, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 cloves garlic, crushed walnuts, salt and pepper. I actually ground the pesto by hand with the pestle because i haven't purchased a new food processor yet. It's more work but the result is much fresher, thicker. I recommend giving it a try if you have the extra time.

I love public markets. Who doesn't. I've been gawking over farm stalls around the world for years. I think many of us are drawn to Farmers or Public markets because of a pastoral sense that we are doing something a little more natural, a little more homegrown, maybe a little more like they used to do it in the old days. Is the price better? Usually, but depends on your location. Are the goods better? That's a good question. Sao Paulo is a big street market city. Every day of the week there are at least two street markets known as feiras around the city. Each feira has a specific day and you can find it there every week without fail. Feiras are very drawing. Row upon row of tented vending tables; piles of the brightest fruits you've ever seen. You thought you knew what the word banana meant, but oh you were so very wrong. Banana mile i used to call it, the last row of around eight or nine tables selling different varieties of bananas. You can also find leaves, beans, bags full of garlic -- caulifower the size of your head. A feira is a beautiful place and is usually more or less around the exact same price as the going rate for produce in the super market. What's the catch? You're in heaven until you look down-not down at the ground, down under the table, down behind the stalls. Where did this food come from? Is it from a farmer? It's a farmers market isn't it? Unfortunately the heaping piles of boxes, bags, labels and marked trucks say otherwise. In Sao Paulo, as in most enormous urban centers, the majority of the city's incoming food (produce, meat, dairy products etc) passes through a central hub. This central hub, known in Sao Paulo as CEAGESP, is a shopping mall sized warehouse that operates nearly around the clock managing the logistics of bringing in enough food to the city to feed its twelve million habitants. The food comes from all over the country as well as from abroad. Local? No. Necessary? Of course. I said twelve million people didn't I. The truth is that the organges, apples and cucumbers that are sent on through to the supermarkets are the same ones that get picked up and sold at the street markets. So what do you get from buying them in the market? Convenience, a more pastoral shopping experience and you help pay the bills of the vendor who is selling the items. So not great, but not bad either.

What about in the US? Almost every major city in the US has at least one Farmers market and each market has its own history and makeup. Does yours offer local or independent "farmers" products? The only way to know is to get down there and start snooping. Last weekend I visited the Rochester Public Market for the fist time. I was thrilled, it's known as one of Rochester's top attractions. It's a typical market; crowded, laughing kids, the smell of freshly fried doughnuts (yum) and row apon row of tables full of baskets of apples, oranges and potatoes. As we slowly walked through my smile started to droop. Ok, everything is from California. That's fine. It's still winter, I get it. But by the time I reached the end of the line I realized I hadn't seen a single organic stand. I started to feel like I was back in Sao Paulo! Sure the apples were charming nestled snuggly in their little wicker baskets, but these are the same non organic apples you can get at the grocery store. Bummer. On the way out I ran into a booth that I had missed, the one organic booth at the market. They weren't selling apples or oranges. They were selling canned, pickled and preserved items as well as bundles of garlic greens and "ugly" potatoes as my husband says. Small World Market, a downtown Rochester based company specializing in all things local. Honestly their sauerkraut tastes like a crisp pickle. Did I mention it's unpasteurized? We seriously need more fermented bacteria in our diet. We evolved with it. Go find it! The lovely attendant at the stand assured me that there are quite a few small street markets in the city that do sell local and organic products... you just have to find them.

So the moral of the story is that the term farmers market doesn't necessarily mean its from the farm. That is, a small, local and organic farm. Always question your food. There's no shame in asking the vendor where his apples are coming from.

If you do happen to get ahold of this bacteria friendly sauerkraut, i recommend using it in the best sandwich in the world. That is, pesto, fried eggs, pea shoots and of course, sauerkraut.

It's cake. Wait, no it's bread. It's bread cake. This banana bread cake is actually my favorite recipe for banana bread, turned cake with the addition of some lemon mascarpone frosting. This cake features brown rice flour, chia seeds, coconut, oats, brown sugar and of course, bananas. It's a simple yet elegant way to make something (from the pantry) when you are invited to a last minute dinner party. Tastes like a good old banana bread, but the simple shape of the pan, frosting and a few flowers (plucked from a vase!) can really up the wow factor.

Method:1) Mix all ingrediets together beginning with the wet ingredients. 2) line two small cake pans with parchment paper (or one large loaf pan!)3) Divide batter among pans and and bake at 350F for 45 minutes (make sure to test the doneness with a toothpick)4) allow cake to cook completely before frosting.

5) In a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese with the butter. Gently add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat in cream as needed.

Bit of a dreary day. Spring is slow to come, so that means we aren't out of soup season just yet. This is a quick, realitvely cheap soup that honestly takes less than thirty minutes of hands on time. I love to make thick soups with leafy greens. My go to green has always been collards, but it's a bit easier to find kale greens around here so i suppose i have a new go to green. I expect that once the weather gets nicer i'll see a few more collards...in the meantime i see no problem with kale. I love adding a really strong ingredient to soup, like turmeric, in order to avoid over salting. I'm coming off of a long weekend in Montreal (five year wedding anniversary, thank you) and now have an enormous stock of maple syrup. Nearly half of the dishes i ate in Montreal contained maple syrup. So now i fear most of my dishes for the next few weeks will as well. Op! Just add a dash, it really does blend well with the turmeric!

Method:1) Bake chicken breasts or thighs for 20 to 25 minutes at 375 until cooked through. Set aside and let cool completely.2) Heat oil in a large sauce pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook down for another 3 minutes. Stir.3) Add turmeric, pepper flakes, thyme, caraway and maple.4) Add stock and water. Stir and let come to a low boil. 5) Add kale or collards and chickpeas. Cover, turn heat down to medium low, and let greens simmer down. 6) Taste broth and add salt (this will depend on the saltiness of your chicken or vegetable stock). Turn down to a low simmer. 7) Shred cooled chicken and add to sauce pot. Stir and let simmer on low for 30 minutes or until you are ready to eat.

Buying local. It's a dream phrase. As i mentioned in the previous post, one of the things i was looking forward to the most about Rochester was the ability to buy local food stuffs.

My first adventures with local products aren't as romantic as picking strawberries off a bush, but they're items that can be purchased year round. Milk! and Beef! First is the Pittsford Farms Dairy. Pittsford is a suburb of Rochester and is only about fifteen minutes from my house. They are famous in the area for their milk, which they pasteurize in their own facility. They recieve raw organic milk from three different dairy farms located about forty five minutes south of Rochester. The milk they process is used to make their signature products like butter, ice cream and egg nog. The taste is notably different from that of supermarket milk. Maybe it's just the glass bottle (which you can return each time) but it is close enough to make it practical for me to visit once a week for my dairy needs.

My second local find was visiting the farm store of Wilson Beef Farm in Canaseraga, NY. It's about an hour south of Rochester, so it's not a weekly grocery trip. But once every three months is more than doable. The cows are hormone and antibiotic free and are fed both in pasteur and on feed. I don't eat a lot of meat, but i appreciate it. And the flank steak is incredible. Whether local or not, buying cruelty free meat and eggs should be at the top of your list when searching for a source.

I'm definitely looking forward to finding more local foodstuffs in the area!

(reposted from The Salty Cod)Moqueca is a Brazilian fish stew usually served with rice and a panko like garnish called farofa. There are many varieties of moqueca, but my particular favoirte is one inspired by moqueca from the state of Bahia. The key ingredient for this moqueca is dende oil, also known as red palm oil. This recipe below is made using ingredients found inside the US.

*Red palm oil can be found in most grocery store (Trader Joe's has). It usually can be found solid in a jar (similar to coconut oil) and runs anywhere from five to fifteen dollars a jar.*Farofa is made from a roughly ground tapioca flour. It is possible to find at international import stores, but if it's not available in your area regular panko works just as well.

Method:1) Prepare the shrimp. If you can find whole shrimp with their heads still attached, get them. They will add an extra flavor dimension to your moqueca. If you can't find, no sweat, but you will need to make sure you use a stock such as fish stock or chicken stock. If using shrimp heads, remove all heads, legs and shells from the shrimp meat and throw (heads) into a pot. Add four quarts water (or stock) and bring to a boil. Strain the liquid into a Medium stock pot and discard the heads and shells. Set shrimp bodies aside.

4) Prepare your fried coconut. Heat 1 tbsp dende oil in a small frying pan. Once hot, add the shredded coconut. Stir until the coconut absorbs all the oil and begins to crisp (turn a darker orange color). Let fried coconut dry on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt.

5) Prepare the farofa. Heat 1 tbsp dende oil (see the pattern here?) in a saute pan. Add garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Add panko and stir until completely absorbed and the panko begins to crisp. Sprinkle with salt and take off heat.

To assemble: Start with rice, add a heaping scoop of moqueca (as much shrimp as you can scoop), sprinkle with farofa and fried coconut, garnish with fresh cilantro and for good measure drizzle a fresh squeeze of lime over the top.

I've been thinking about flashes (strobe lights) a lot lately. I've always been a little intimidated by it. Why use flash when you can use natural light? But the truth is the photographer isn't the one who chooses. The situation chooses. The time of day, the time of year. The location. We all need more flash in our lives! Especially because a large percentage of weddings around the world (surprise!) are held indoors. I was very lucky to be given the chance to photograph an indoor wedding last weekend here in Rochester. Can you believe it was last minute? The bride planned and organized everything in only two weeks! You wouldn't know it. Everything in this wedding was very personalized. The bride's sister in law added handmade details the bride's shoes, the mother of the groom put together all of the bouquets and flower arangements. I wish all the happiness in the world to this couple.

It's very true. I miss Brazil. Cliches are cliches for a reason. You never know how much you love something, or how much you will miss something until after you let it go. Technically Brazil will never be out of my life as half of my family remain there, not to mention my husband is Brazilian. But moving on is always bitter sweet. Difficult. Lonely. We are happy in Rochester, NY, we have to look at change as an advernture and challenge. It's too easy when life is easy. Hello Rochester, I'll start with one look backward. A post that's been waiting in the wings. Right before moving we were visited by my little sister and her dear friend. Their Sampa and Rio tour acted double duty as our final Sampa and Rio tour. Sao Paulo, you are lovely. Also i'm a bit jealous that my senior portraits were at a dumpy dark studio and not, as is the case here, in the botanical gardens of Rio!

I'm from Seattle. So naturally I would think that the Pacific Northwest is the best region in the United States. I do think that it is the best place, but only because it is true. The only problem with the PNW, sometimes, is it's tree layer. Washington is the evergreen state because it never loses its leaves. Washington is green year round. And those giant trees outside your window never sleep. While beautiful, their shade can be a bit of a nuisance for photographs. Every shot finishes with a bit of a shade. Is that a bad thing? It's my PNW filter. Below is a family session near and dear to my heart, shot in the tree shade in the PNW.

I absolutely cannot say no to a baby shoot. I love photographing new borns. So when i was contacted a week ago to shoot on the morning before moving out of the country, I could only say yes! Super chubby cheeks, a handsome big brother and two amazing parents who looked amazing despite the fact that they probably haven't slept in weeks!

There is something so calming about doing a maternity shoot. Soft light, quiet voices, maybe a sleeping pup... yet at the same time it is a little electric with anticipation. I am so thrilled to have been able to work with this beautiful mommy-to-be and grateful for being trusted to take such time sensitive and intimate photos. My favorite elements of the shoot were of course the couple's adorable doggy, Teddy, and the details in the nursery. The botanical prints that adorn baby's nursery are the very same that decorated mommy-to-be's nursery.

One year ago this little boy and his pup took a photo together for the family's first Chrsitmas card. One year later his dear mum decided to continue the tradition and get Mia and Lucas together for another Christmas shoot. Poor Mia, during the first shoot the baby didn't move much, now he's pulling the leash with gusto! He does love his pup though <3

I love it when brothers and sisters are best buds. It could have just been the oddity of being in front of a camera, but this brother and sister duo were firecrackers jumping off the walls. I'll admit there was a lot of blur and turned heads. But luckily, as moms always know what to do, mom whipped out the animal crackers to create a moment of calm which also added a surprisingly fun prop!

I tell myself all the time that i am specialized in food and product photography, i like photographing humans, but it's not my specialty. I've been telling myself that for the past two years since i seriously started photographing people. It's a security blanket...but honestly im out of that security now, i'm a human photographer. I've been lucky enough to have a great mentor to help me transition into the human market, my friend Jana of Jana Davis Pearl Photography. Formerly Sao Paulo based, she is now based in New York City. Lucky New Yorkers! I've inherited a few of her former clients, including an amazing family with a brand new addition. Infant photography is more or less a one time shot, a week later they are already a lot larger. So when the C family asked me to photograph their brand new son, i was nervous as hell! Luckily, through Jana's recommendation they trusted me to come into their home and photograph them in a very intimate light, less than two weeks after the birth of their beautiful son. You must be comfortable with your photographer to let them into your home at a very vulnerable moment in your life, but if you do it is an amazing experience for the photographer. With that said, i think i have fallen in love with baby photography! Excited for the next bundle of joy.